Crutchlow on ‘character building’ year so far

Ahead of his biggest weekend of the year so far, the Hertz British Grand Prix, Cal Crutchlow has provided an in depth insight into his experiences to date in 2014.

Crutchlow’s move to Ducati Team at the end of last season has not yielded the kind of results he would have hoped for, given that he was on the podium three times in 2013 with his former team Monster Yamaha Tech 3.

Discussing the year to date he stated, “I think if you look historically at the guys riding the Ducati on their first year it has always been difficult. I think it just takes a year to get used to the bike. It’s a different situation to what I am used to. I used to be in Tech 3 where things were a lot easier to get the results, but I have never been in such a situation in my career where I have been so slow and so bad. This is life and you have some good years and you have some bad years, but I am optimistic.”

On the specifics of his difficulties with the Ducati GP14, he added, “We have one clear thing with the bike that we do not understand, and it is that we can’t get the lean angle. We are at maybe five degrees lean angle less than Andrea (Dovizioso), but more on the limit. We can see from the data that we have more risk being five degrees lean angle less. It should mean that have less risk, but I have more risk to make a crash than them, and as soon as I go one grade more I have a crash. Obviously to make the corner you need to be able to lean the bike as much as possible.”

“I spent three years trying to learn like Jorge (Lorenzo) and he is one of the fastest guys in the championship, but that was with the Yamaha. I didn’t want to go back and change a riding style that I do not believe works with every bike, I believe it works with the Ducati only, but in the end we thought we had to and I am definitely changing my style now, but it is difficult to get out from what you have been doing for years.”

Crutchlow will next year ride for CWM-LCR Honda, but starting with this weekend at Silverstone he is determined to prove his ability on the Ducati in the remainder of the current campaign.

The British rider concluded, “I believe I have taken more strength on having a bad season up until now, but we still have half a year to prove that we are better than where we are. I believe I am in the same situation that a lot of the Ducati riders have been in their first year at Ducati. So I have to continue and try 110 per cent with the Ducati guys for the rest of the season. What I can take from it is to learn to be stronger for next year. It has been definitely character building.”